within the last hour, president obama arrived in new jersey where the storm not only deadly but where some of the worst damage occurred. the president touring the state with new jersey governor, republican governor chris christie. just six days out from the election. interesting for many reasons and mostly because chris christie is a top romney surrogate and highly critical of the president in the past but since the storm lavished praise on the president's handling of the storm's wrath. before heading to the jersey shore, the president's made an unscheduled stop at fema headquarters. this is the president meeting with several administration and cabinet persons there. we're told he addressed everyone around the table thanking them for the work and warning that the country's not out of the woods yet. joining us now nbc news political director chuck todd on the phone and ron allen live in point please sant beach, new

jersey. todd, i'll start with you. we have chris christie with president obama and others say what else was supposed to happen here? i mean, these men may be from different sides of aisle but we know they're still without power and lost their homes and the other issue still facing the region. >> that's right. we are here in atlantic city. he is up in the chopper with governor christie. it was interesting. it was just governor christie. no other entourage greeting the president. just president and administrator fugate. they got on marine one which was brought up here and that's what they're doing now and just the three of them along with jack law the chief of staff on one helicopter and they're doing that tour as you know yesterday it was after governor christie did his first tell conference tour of the shore he was a different guy in the press briefing. clearly shaken him up. so then the pictures we have

been seeing today, obviously, with going up in the -- it's just what you're seeing today and what people are seeing today you now understand the emotional response that governor christie had and others from new jersey had as they have seen the devastation up close so that's what they're doing now and you're right. you know, it is a picture and at the same time this is the best politics in a situation like this. >> and we actually heard from one of the congressman from the area, steve israel was on a short time ago talking about the aid that's still needed. chuck, as the president lands on the ground, their situations in hoboken and people frustrated without power and seen it after many disasters. you're from florida. first couple of days people are patient but then the clock starts to tick and the president is landing at a critical time for so many people. subway's still not running and chuck schumer talking about pump

systems in place tomorrow but still questions. >> that's right. i asked -- we had administrator fugate on air force one and said that's part of the reason why they're here and they know that dealing with the floodwaters the coast guard and army corps of engineers are taking the lead on that but they don't have full answers yet on that front and that's part of the issue. fema f yougate said people can' necessarily make contact with fema and to deal with temporary housing but that's the other thing apparently he's among the messages fema going to bring is that they're ready for that next step of trying to find people temporary housing if they need it. >> quickly here, this juggling act the president is performing right now, necessary one.

we see and hear today in new jersey focus on the people and goes back to the campaign trail tomorrow. >> big blitz tomorrow and mitt romney hit the trail today but tomorrow he starts what appears to be hit just about every battleground state in a 72-hour period. today, last day of storm recovery and tomorrow is the now i guess we're at a -- spring until the end but everybody fully on the campaign trail starting tomorrow. >> chuck, thank you very much. let's bring in ron allen in new jersey. ron, we have pointed out that a lot of frustration right now, you have chuck schumer saying specialists are brought in to manhattan, for example, to deal with the pumping issue. but also, congressman israel from new jersey concerned, as well, about some of the relief effort. what are you hearing in point pleasant? >> reporter: governor christie warned it might take up to a week or more to restore power.

there are two times as many people, customers, without power in new jersey now as after hurricane irene a year ago and gives you a sense of the depth of the problem here. 60% of the state does not have power. and again, it's going to take a while. yes, there is some frustration but i think people are understanding that this is a really severe calamity that hit this place and you can see along the jersey shore places like this, a beach front property, a restaurant obliterated and what president obama and governor christie are seeing as they fly up and down the shoreline. we saw marine one go by in a convoy with helicopters about ten minutes ago and making their rounds. but i don't think a lot of people expect a lot from the federal government in the short term. >> yeah. >> right now people are just trying to deal with their immediate needs, moving in with neighbors, staying with friends. we have heard reports that some utility companies are talking about perhaps turning off water services, for example, because

there could be contamination in the system. people are hunkering down and the work is just beginning. in this town, for example, the roads are covered with -- some places, several feet of sand. they're impassablimpassable. impossible to get in and out of some communities up and down the shoreline and in new jersey. again, to think of at this point of a lot of relief supplies arriving, people are hunkering down trying to deal with the near term right now. >> let me correct myself. it's congressman steve israel of new york saying he is in contact with fee many officials. needing more detail on the plan there. to your point, you have certain reaction with the individuals of point pleasant. it's a layer of response but nevertheless the president is landing at a critical time when i do think people want to hear as many specifics as possible regarding power outages, when they might get their power on, when some of the water is pumped

out of the system. nothing is guaranteed. but at this point, as the clock ticks closer to the weekend, the tension increases. >> reporter: exactly, tamron. and the problems are different in different places. in northern jersey going to jersey city, newark, hoboken and across in manhattan where you are, yes, there's a lot of anxiety. there are really critical problems there. that are much more complicated arguably than what you find in this place like this as a much more sparsely populated area. yes, there's a density of population and people can't move and go to work and go to school. even down here, people wandering the beach today. they have nothing to do. they can't go to work. they're trying to clean up what they can of their properties but i think you're right that people want to hear specifics. although, states and government -- local officials warning it takes some time. it's very, very complicated.

nobody really -- the forkers warned of this but i don't think people thought it would be this bad, as bad as it is that you would have power out in 60% of a state. >> absolutely. to this point, it is not as if people are blaming fema or blaming administrators. they want some answers which is a natural reaction, especially when you're going through what so many are in this region. thank you very much, ron. i appreciate you sticking around. with six days to election day, governor romney resumed a full campaign schedule today. he's in florida right now. about to kick off the second event of the day in south florida. congressman paul ryan is in wisconsin. vice president joe biden attending rallies in florida and bill clinton is in iowa for the obama campaign, of course. let's bring in the political panel. david goodfriend and rachel smelkin. thank you both for your time. >> thank you. >> thank you.

>> i want to get to this poll showing the president still holding on to his lead in ohio, florida and virginia. we know that when you look at national polls, depending on which one, a different picture but it is about the battlegrounds and likely voters here. what do we make of the new polls? >> hurricane sandy introduced a massive unknown in to the final days of the race and that's the first thing. we are not yet seeing that reflikted in the polling. having said that, it looks for the president's team like they're still holding on in ohio. the margins closed there as in other battleground states but that's an all-important state for both campaigns to win this election, mitt romney is almost going to have to win ohio if not he's going to have to run the table everywhere else. this is a good piece of news for the president out of ohio today. virginia and florida just too close to call. well inside that margin of error. could go either way. but for all the talk you have heard of mitt romney's momentum since the first debate in denver, that fateful first

debate, it looks like from this poll the momentum has either stopped or slowed. that, of course, is not the message that the campaign has been putting out over the past couple of days. >> you talk about sandy. there's a big picture of the day will be governor chris christie and president obama together surveying the damage. again, so many people have remarked it's a remarkable sight. i'm not quite sure if it is and seems like common sense. we know where governor christie is based and there are people in need. unlike michael bloomberg when's not planning to run for an office we know of in the immediate future. governor christie may have a big battle on the hands moving ahead. let's play what joe scarborough said this morning regarding ohio and if it's off the table. >> if you take ohio off the table for mitt romney, and it's really close, it's really, really close to being off the table for mitt romney and unless

there's a massive reagan-like landslide the last week, then suddenly mitt romney's pathway to 270 gets very, very narrow. >> so david, that's joe's take on this. shawn spice we are the romney campaign on earlier saying they're expanding the map and looking at pennsylvania, minnesota, as well. even though the numbers at least in pennsylvania certainly are not there or minnesota. they claim that they are looking not just at ohio but expanding this map. do you see any sign of momentum or whatever the catchphrase of the day has been? >> no. i think it's a hail mary pass and your own chuck todd earlier in the day in d a brilliant illustration of why the romney campaign has to do this. because ohio really is falling off the table for them. if they rely only on an ohio win, they're probably going to lose. they're trying desperately to open up a new front but, you know, my colleague that spoke earlier mentioned the hurricane.

believe me. i think there's a dotted line between what happens on election day and the images out of new jersey and elsewhere. fema has always been a sort of talisman for your view of the proper role of federal government. go back to bill clinton who elevated it to a cabinet-level agency. it got better. george w. bush demoted in to some sub agency within homeland security and look what happens to new orleans. we are seeing before our very eyes a stark difference between mitt romney saying we should privatize everything including fema and barack obama working with even republican governors like chris christie on a federal relief effort. that's a huge talisman for what you believe the proper role of government is in society and i believe this will show that the president's right and people look at this in ohio and swing states. >> not the only very stark difference between the two of them. the latest obviously being sandy

and bringing the attention on romney and fema. he was asked yesterday multiple times what he would do with fema. did not answer. but just a short time ago jeb bush commented on local officials responding to disasters versus national or federal response. i'll play that but i want to play something else first. romney on the campaign trail today trying to transition, rachel, from holding off or holding fires to acknowledging the ongoing events of the day on the ground of new jersey. let me play it. >> we love all of our fellow citizens. we come together in times like this and we want to make sure that they have a speedy and quick recovery. now, people coming stoe ining t what's i believe going to happen on november 7th. >> he tried to turn the curve and bring it all together. i'm not going to ask you to score it but, okay, did it work? i'll just ask you that.

did it work is this. >> this is a very tough day to be the challenger in a position where you can't do anything about it. right? so romney has to show sympathy and really nothing he can do in this situation. president obama gets all the advantages of incumbency and seeing the pictures coming in out there with chris christie. a top romney surrogate and a moment to look presidential. look like he's in charge. he's doing all of those things. the question is whether the mood will change when people have not had power for a few days, images of areas that are still suffering and the cleanup has not been as effective. what will that do in the final hours before election day? nobody knows how that plays out. >> no one knows but what we know, rachel, all of those factors can happen but what you have over the last few days, that shot. one of the chief surrogates for governor romney patting the president on the back, physically and then patting him

verbally for a last few days. he's been doing that. by the way, there was some information reportedly one of mitt romney's advisers on the plane was asked whether that governor romney agrees with chris christie's praise of the president and the handling of sandy and refused to answer, rachel. >> right. that was a moment where maybe they could have answered differently. they chose to sort of turn reporters' back to chris christie's remarks instead of using that as an opportunity to say something more about the country or the president. i would point out that in addition to all of these questions raising about hurricane sandy, we have another robs report coming out on friday. that's going to throw another unknown in to the final days of this campaign. >> david, i want to play the sound from jeb bush with mitt romney seeming to bring the attention back to fema and the questions in many ways that have been unanswered by governor romney on what he would do about fema if elected. >> my experience in this

emergency response business is that it's the local level and the state level that really matters. that if they do their job right, the federal government part worked out pretty good. >> so david, let me get your response. i mean, yesterday governor romney was at a noncampaign event and he ignored the question of fema. unsolicited jeb bush, still popular in florida, knows the impact that fema can have after a natural disaster, bringing it up in this way at a rally in florida. >> yeah, look. anybody whose last name is bush is not who i want talking about a response to a natural disaster. what jeb bush just did is recite how the laws work today. localities and states run the ground game but they have support of fema. i love the guy that is go we

hate government, government's bad, government bad and then the first time there's a disaster, what do they start shouting? government, come help me. federal government, please, come to my state. help me. look. americans are not stupid. when we see the actions that speaks louder than any kind of words and the republican hatchet men can say all that want that government's bad but when it really matters and people's lives are at stake, who do you count on to be there? a strong, effective, efficient government. that's played out on television screens across the country right before election day. >> you had some republicans who said bringing up governor romney's comments regarding fema during the primary was politicizing it. but again, today on his own unsolicited and not a result of a question directed to him former governor of florida jeb bush brought this up. rachel, thank you. david, as well. >> thank you so much. >> we're told that the president and governor christie will be

back in atlantic city at the international airport and then the motorcade to take them. so we're keeping an eye on that situation and images from staten island, as well. we continue to follow the breaking news out of new jersey. president obama expected to start his ground tour alongside governor chris christie. that's happening in this hour. we'll bring you the very latest and expecting to hear from the president, of course, as he is here to survey the damage. national guard troops have arrived this morning to help the people in hoboken, new jersey. they're delivering them ready to eat meals. the situation still dire as the president tours firsthand what's happening on the ground. we'll get a live report. plus, why the headline reads ohio's working class offer the key to obama's re-election. well, they're specifically talking about working white

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welcome back. the president is about to wrap up his aerial tour of the damage in new jersey. meantime, the national guard is now in hoboken, new jersey, across the hudson river from new york city. they're helping to deliver meals and supplies and still evacuating thousands of people stranded. nbc's katy t ur joins us now live from hoboken. i imagine the national guard a welcome sight and see what's happening there by your live shot. >> reporter: yeah. they were definitely a welcome sight. we're getting water from this

guy in the hummer. they came in here midnight and a dire call from help from the mayor of the town speaking with rachel and said we have 20,000 people trapped in the homes. the water came in around monday evening. people started to stay in their homes. sunday evening when the storm was hitting. so they were in their homes since then. they're just getting out today. the waters have receded enough in some areas to make it out. the waters are still covering a good portion of this town. there's 500 million gallons of water here to pump out and takes at least two days. looking down here, hard to see because it's far away but there's been a steady stream of people walking over this highway in to jersey city to get supplies. almost no power in jersey city right now but there's a target that's open and going in there and they're getting what they need and coming back. they do need supplies in much of this area.

national guard was here. bringing mres as you said and other toy le tris and necessities and food and water but there's a lot of people still trapped here. if you do go out and you can make it out because the waters aren't so high, the problem is if you don't have waders or boots, what will you do? it's full of sewage and heating oil. if you look down here, you can see the sheen from the oil. there are contaminates in here. it is not safe to touch without being covered up. we did speak with a few people about the damage and we want to play some of their explanations of it now. so take a listen. >> our apartment's fine. the garage and the car's shot but other than that we're good. >> well, the water pretty much damaged all of the inside. everything is just kind of i guess floating around in there. >> this is the fault line and

the water came up. >> look at the door. >> you can see how high it came. it lifted the rug up. just completely flooded. pretty bad. >> thank god we have flood insurance but it's devastating mentally because i don't know what to do. >> reporter: the national guard is here right now. i think they're on loan right here and doing rescues here and there, getting people out that need medical attention or elderly. there are four fire houses in the town. this is one of them. this is very damaged. of the four, three were flooded and damaged. only one that is up and running right now. just one in this entire town. tamron? >> we know a lot of people that live in the area just hoping to be able to get to their homes to see a glimpse and assess as so many others have had a chance to do and still rough going and we wish everyone obviously throughout the region the best. thank you for the latest there. tough to hear the people assess the damage. colorado senator mark udall is

back and we'll get his thoughts on the newest battleground polls that shows the president slightly leading in three states that count. plus, the president returns to the campaign trail tomorrow. i'll talk with presidential historian douglas brinkley of how sandy could elect the election and the president's transition of being on the ground today and the campaign trail tomorrow. but first, new york senator schumer announced in the past hour a team of experts of illinois and contractors around the country on the way to lower manhattan right now to start pumping water he said by tomorrow. meantime, there seems to be slow progress in restoring power. at 7:00 a.m. today, just over 6 million customers in 18 states without power. as of 1:00 p.m., 5.95 million without power. that means power has been restored to just 50,000 customers since this morning. but i guess if you're one of the

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new york city mayor bloomberg ringing the opening bell as trading resumes today on wall street for the first time since hurricane sandy hit. the last time it was halted for two days because of weather, 1888. they're running on the own backup generators and the markets are lower. the dow is down 15 points there. well, nbc's first read team says it won't be surprising if the losing side of the presidential election blames sandy. take a look at what they mean by that. up next, presidential historian doug brinkley of how disasters affected elections and republican congressman steve king says he wants to avoid a repeat of hurricane katrina. he says relief money was spent on bags and massage parlors.

one of the things we thought you should know. but first, today nate silver of "the new york times" forecasted president obama had 77% chance of winning re-election and now 299 votes and governor romney 239.

welcome back. president obama was supposed to be in ohio today before canceling the visit due to hurricane sandy and the damage caused. despite being off the trail, the latest poll of ohio voters gives the president a five-point edge and seems to show growing optimism about the economy of white working class voters and could be the reason seeing him hold on to the lead and, quote, if you look at the body language of the campaign hard not to conclude they believe they're behind. and if they believe ohio is a be all end all then they're behind. let's bring in editor mark

murray. before we talk about the poll, i want to play what vice president joe biden said regarding this car ad or auto ad running brought to you by the romney campaign and called misleading and slammed by gm and chrysler. let me play it. >> they're running the most scurrilous ad in ohio. i want you to listen. one of the most flagrantly dishonest ads i can remember in my political career. >> so mark, a spokesperson of gm said it's completely untrue, to su miz the statement here in front of me. but this is about ohio, the ad about ohio and president obama still leads in ohio. >> the pushback you are seeing of general motors as well as chrysler is pretty extraordinary in a presidential campaign with

major companies basically say that one campaign is being inaccurate in the tv ads. tamron, this has to do everything with ohio. this has all to do with the auto bailout and a reason president obama is doing better with white voters in ohio than might be in places in the south or battlegrounds like in virginia and florida, has to do with the auto bailout. getting support from a lot of people whose jobs are tied to the auto industry. another thing benefiting president obama has to do with the fact labor and the politics of labor very big flash points in the last couple of years and the midwest in ohio, in wisconsin until a lot of people, particularly white members who are union members more apt to support president obama than you would see from white people in other parts of the country. >> garbled what the chrysler chief said but inaccurate to suggest anything different of an alleged move to china as the ad and comments were made by

governor romney last week suggests. with this heavy pushback of gm and chrysler do you think that the romney campaign anticipated this at all and why continue to defend the ad and not pull it down? >> i have no idea whether they anticipated to get this kind of pushback. but as we wrote and you just mentioned, the body language to have to resort to this sort of ad looks to be a game changer. if you are up in the tracking you don't run an ad like that. trying to really change the conversation. trying to muddy the waters. that's something you typically do when you're behind. the romney campaign insists to me we feel like we're in a very good position in ohio. we're within striking distance but the polls show president obama with a five-point lead. some had it smaller. >> quickly, they say the economy is improving and according to

the polls most give president obama a credit for. >> we're actually seeing that people voting for president obama supporting him in polls optimistic and bullish on the state of the economy. if you're a romney voter or you're leaning towards romney in the polls probably have the opposite view. that's where we're going to see in the exit polls come november 6th. >> all right. thank you very much. we appreciate it. taking the audience to breaking news. new video, president obama walking off the helicopter after the aerial tour of new jersey with governor chris christie right there who's certainly been praising the president's response to the storm. we'll hear from the two of them likely within the hour. or very soon. about to take a ground tour. imagine they're talking with people who lost everything or much of what they have. so we'll bring it to you. another image of the day likely the image so many will be talking about and maybe leading up to the election. one of the chief surrogates for

governor romney side by side with president obama as they should be in crisis. like this. and we'll have much more on that. president obama will return to the campaign trail tomorrow after wrapping up the tour of the storm damage today in new jersey. tomorrow the president turns to colorado and joining me today from denver is democratic senator mark udall. thank you for joining us. i appreciate you making time for us again. >> hi, tamron. i can't but think aft national disaster this is sum we are the big wildfires and the tragic shooting and the president was right here on the ground. he was universally acclaimed for the leadership by democrats and republicans alike and owl of us in colorado thinking about the people on the east coast and doing whatever it takes to stand with them. >> what do you make of people expressing surprise to see chris christie and the president together during a situation like this? >> well, this is our country at its best, tamron. we come together. we play for the red, white and

blue team and governor christie, of course, knows that his state's recovery is dependn't on a strong partnership and as you've pointed out it brings up the point of when we're working together, when we're in it together, we're stronger as a nation. that's the two contrasting views in this election. governor romney wants every man for himself. president obama thinks we're stronger when we're together. >> the last poll taken, 48-48 with romney and the president. certainly equally matched there. what do you believe will be the key for your state at this point? >> we are excited. the voting commenced. we have a great ground game here. i predict the president winning colorado. it will be close. we have about 60 offices. we have countless volunteers and will follow the senate bennett model of 2010 where women, the youth vote and latinos came out in great numbers for senator

bennett and they'll come out for president obama because he understands their hopes and dreams. >> 1 million folks in your state voted so far republicans have had about 3% lead over democrats in terms of overall ballots cast, that's according to a recent report of kwgn. >> that's right. we shouldn't be worried. in 2010 against senator bennett in the same position and slightly behind early on and we gained momentum. our people were at the doors and tracking and tracing the ballots and the formula that we put in place in 2010 will be the same formula that leads to president obama's win here next tuesday. >> senator udall, thank you very much. greatly appreciate your time. thank you, sir. >> thank you. everyone is wondering the impact of sandy on the election. well, history shows it largely depends, of course, on response. salon.com has research that shows voters punish leaders for failing to act and reward those

who respond effectively. we are joined by presidential historian doug brinkley. obviously, doug, the first thing that comes to mind is hurricane katrina. bringing up a disaster in recent memory with questions and reactions of the government and the leadership. but here you have president obama with an interesting juggling act and that he's running, of course, and keeping a tight campaign and on the ground today with a surrogate for the rival assessing the damage in new jersey. >> well, president obama's done a terrific job during his first term here on dealing with all crises, on natural disaster or events like tucson giving that amazing speech after the shooting there. this is -- you know, romney campaign gaining a little bit of momentum. superstorm sandy hit and you feel that momentum gone and what you are seeing is barack obama is commander in chief. talking to the red cross.

working with the army corps of engineers. so the president's handled all this this in a very astute way. it's lyndon johnson did a good job of hurricane betsy in 1975 and george w. bush was awful during hurricane katrina because he seemed cold, callous and indifferent. >> what do you make of the closeness of all of this to the election, as well? the time line, the time line. >> it's a bizarre event. in 1992, with hurricane andrew with george herbert walker bush beat up by democrats for not responding properly to that florida hurricane but that took place in august so people -- there's always some fallout. right now this is so close to the election there's not a downside for president obama. the complaints coming from the greater new york area will be in about two or three weeks with problems of mold or fema didn't

do something correctly or the army corps arguing. but the president doesn't have to deal with that because they're in emergency mode and looking for him for resolute, steadfast leadership and he's providing. >> transitioning to governor romney, he is in florida and we know certainly how sensitive that state is regarding natural disasters. they have had to live through way too many and interesting on the plane, governor romney's adviser was asked whether he agreed with chris christie's praise of president obama's handling of sandy and he declined to answer that. how do you assess his position? he is not the commander in chief. he is not the leader of the country. he wants the job and also out there coampaigning at this poin and perhaps reluctance of any to the president. >> i think governor romney has diminished himself the last couple of days. it made sense to stay in ohio

but doing a canned food drive trying to get in the action and never really quite worked. if you're president of the united states, you want to show people how you'd act and important to do what chris christie did. mitt romney would have gone further to say i'm behind the president. we are americans right now. his leadership is important for our country and taking the high road. instead he was looking in my view for a bit of an opening and as you have mentioned the ad in ohio general motors and chrysler, hardly liberals, just pounced on romney. it was really stunning to try to do that and it's not been a good few days for mitt romney and you feel that the president's regained momentum. he was losing even this past sunday. >> thank you so much. i'm sure we'll see you soon. as well, thank you. up next, a live report of queens, new york, that is where more than 100 homes were

destroyed in a fire during hurricane sandy. but first, here's a look at the average of the polls. a dead heat with 47%. but first, there's a lot going on today and here's things we thought you should know. republican lawmakers steve king under fire for saying he won't okay federal money for hurricane sandy relief until he's sure it will be spent properly. in tuesday's debate against democrat king said he'd vote against a bill to give more aid to katrina victims because the cash was spent on gucci bags and massage parlors. the comments were called heartless and extreme. ook like i'm stalking plants? [ male announcer ] most dry foods add plant protein, like gluten but iams never adds gluten. iams adds 50% more animal protein, [ cat 3 ] look at this body! under this shiny coat is a lean, mean purring machine

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♪ can't tell them apart, try as you might ♪ ♪ but a wise man once said that the secret to life ♪ ♪ is to find one that don't look the same ♪ ♪ find one that don't look ♪ the same ♪ welcome back. we have more breaking news to report. we have just got some information from the fire department in new york that they're assisting in the evacuation of bellevue hospital. that's considered new york

city's flagship public hospital. it's on the east river in new york. and maybe just a block or two away from the hospital in new york where several patients, i believe over 100 patients were evacuated the night sandy roared in to this region. infants evacuated. women giving birth at the time. like 215 people and right now another hospital evacuation. not sure why. but there could be as many as 500 patients affected by this. bellevue hospital, new york's east river, that's the area it's in, evacuated. fire department confirms they're assisting in the evacuation. one of the worst fires in new york city history. broke out monday night at the height of the hurricane sandy and spread house to house in breezy point, queens. officials say more than 130 homes destroyed or damaged in that community. all too familiar tragedy and nbc is live nearby where this is all

happening. seems that such heartbreak followed in many ways this community and see how they're impacted by so many other disasters, it is stunning, mara. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely, tamr tamron. they're dealing with a double disaster of the fire and storm dejesus. the governor is here doing an aerial tour and then a walking tour and expecting him at any moment and will be here surveying the damage where a neighborhood was devastated by a fire monday night, the same night sandy at the maximum strength. the fire damage, 130 homes, 111 completely destroyed. 20 suffered fire damage in a blaze that the mayor described as looking like a forest fire. took more than 200 firefighters to fight that fire. officials don't know what caused that first fire that sparked

this but hurricane sandy played a big roll spreading it with high winds spreading the embers and interfering with the efforts to get to the homes it's a tight-night community and stick one another. tamron? >> mara on the ground right now. thank you. we're awaiting comments from the president. as mentioned he is touring the damage. we'll get more for you right after a quick break. tart on you. that seems easier [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. five delicious cooking sauces you combine with fresh ingredients to make amazing home-cooked meals.

president obama finished a helicopter tour of the jersey shore to survey the massive damage as a result of hurricane sandy. the president being escorted by new jersey governor chris christie. the president and the governor then got in to a suv. they're going to be taken on a ground tour headed from atlantic city which suffered severe damage and the neighboring town. an enthat's a small island north of atlantic city connected by a

bridge to a sea. the president was expected to visit a shelter there and flew in to atlantic city this afternoon to meet up with governor christie. no readout on the president's reaction to what he's seen from the air. that does it for this edition of "news nation." "the cycle" is up next. time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. seth carney works renaissance fairs and haunted houses and nightclubs and hawks from the bone shop cart selling items. carney hooks, engages and sells through performance and mirror potential customer's temperaments. for more watch. from a medicar" i just want a company that helps me get the most out of my healthcare. i want it to be simple. one plan. one card to carry.

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♪ we're lucky, it's not every day you find a companion as loyal as a subaru. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. breaking news topping "is cycle" this halloween, waiting to hear from president obama. he and governor chris christie just wrapping up a tour of the devastation of jersey shore. cnbc's kayla tauscha in atlantic city and joins us right now. what's the mood with the president seeing the damage himself firsthand? >> reporter: well, the mood, steve, i have to say started out triumphant. all the residents that are left in atlantic city or what seemed like all of them came out to the nort m